Yes, there's a growing school of thought here that cutting too hard and too fast is counterproductive.

That is correct. Gradualism is much better. Politically it used to be hard to do, but, in recent years, I've noticed a trend towards building these gradual changes in to legislation. This is a good thing. Massive spending changes just add to economic dislocation.

I'm looking at Politifact, browsing recent grades and realized that statements made by Republicans have mostly been declared false.

I have never seen so many false rulings!

The GOP is in so much trouble and needs to be reformed quickly if it wants to survive the next decade. With lie after lie, I don't know how anyone can support them in the future.

I'm guessing that the Libertarian Party may challenge the Republicans for the second party slot. Libertarians are now attracting some moderates, like Gary Johnson, who are actually electable and rational, while the Republican Party just can't seem to shake off the folks obsessed with race/religion/national-origin. As has been seen in the last two elections, that just doesn't sell well enough at the national level any more. I honestly thought that Romney must know that and would focus exclusively on the economy after the convention, but, apparently he hasn't figured that out. So, I'm afraid the Party of Lincoln is doomed to become the next American Independent Party or Constitution Party.

The only way Romney can win is if he can articulate a plan that will create more jobs and reduce the deficit. But, he won't, because that would require restructuring taxes to reinstate what used to be the national "graduated consumption tax". That is what the Federal income tax was from 1946-1980. In those years, the debt was paid down and rich people were strongly encouraged to invest their money, and that put people to work.

My apologies for my previous hasty and unfair answer. Though I've disagreed with virtually everything you've posted, at least you've been congenial ... and you deserve the same in return.

Anyway ...

I'm afraid I have to answer with a question. What would you like him to apologize for? What has Obama done that you feel requires an apology?

Perhaps we can start there.

America doesn't need an apology from him. I want him to man up and admit his failures. I want him to own up to his rising deficit. His lack of foreign policy. Tell the REAL truth about Project Fast and Furious and to stop blaming President Bush. http://www.examiner.com/article/obam...afu-police-say Tell us the truth about the "Terrorist attack" that happend in Libya on Sep 11th.

I have a question for you. Why won't Obama admit his failures? Why does he have to blame everyone but himself? I want to know your intake on this.

Obama as with most politician's way of admitting failure is to say something like "things have not improved enough and we have a long way to go". As far as his failures, I'm not going to imply that he has none, but what would you like him to admit?

There are many things that he has tried to do, even things Republicans normally would like to do, but instead, they have shot them down, their stated goal to make him a one term President, their desired goal to hold the reigns of Presidential power. If I was to describe his failure, is that he should have stopped putting up with GOP BS 6 months into his Administration and gone straight to the American public and called the GOP out. However considering the country seems to be divided right down the middle, I wonder if this would have made a difference?

I also believe he should have been more aggressive getting us out of these wars being conducted as occupations, the wars he initially campaigned on getting us out of the first time around. Besides being arguably without merit, we simply can no longer afford them. Instead we should be more tactical. But for the opposition this would be another trumped us reason to attack him. The bottom line, Republicans are heinous in their approach to running the country and sharing power. They don't share. They'd rather watch the ship sink if they don't agree with the type of repair. And yes, I do see a difference in the willingness of the GOP vs the Democrats to compromise.

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The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"

I have a question for you. Why won't Obama admit his failures? Why does he have to blame everyone but himself? I want to know your intake on this.

Apparently you are not paying attention and looking through things with a partisan prism. He has mentioned failures before, recently even when he answered that he hadn't accomplished immigration reform. So does he admit to all failures? No. Does he admit to some? Oh hell yeah. Whereas Romney admits to none and has a "make no apology" approach to life it would seem even reflected by his book title. I honestly do not know why you keep supporting Romney Vanilla Ice. If you think Obama doesn't address his failures how happy do you think you will be with Romney on that issue should he be elected? Do you think he will make no mistakes? Clearly the way he runs his campaign gives insight to how he would run the White House. It would be the same mess that his campaign is. With no apologies or explanations. If they aren't forthcoming when he wants your vote, I guarantee they won't be there after he already has your vote and the job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanilla Ice

And should we look at back at the DNC? Neither were perfect.

No, neither were. But the Democratic one was far better with less fact checking errors and actually mentioned the troops!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanilla Ice

America doesn't need an apology from him. I want him to man up and admit his failures. I want him to own up to his rising deficit. His lack of foreign policy. Tell the REAL truth about Project Fast and Furious and to stop blaming President Bush. http://www.examiner.com/article/obam...afu-police-say Tell us the truth about the "Terrorist attack" that happend in Libya on Sep 11th.

And why did he need to raise the deficit? Hmmmm? Could it be those unpaid wars from the previous administration? The unpaid for prescription program? The economy going into the tank prior to him ever taking it over??? It's like blaming the carpet cleaning company for having to come in and clean up the previous night's mess, instead of blaming the people who made the mess in the first place.

Lack of foreign policy I agree on somewhat. But then I could easily say we really haven't had a long term foreign policy direction for many many Presidents from both sides of the asile. Part of the problem is our political setup itself. It is really hard to have a coherent policy with some sort of direction when we change our leaders every 4 or 8 years. No one seems to ever take that into account. So, much like Romney's campaign that is all over the map, America itself is an inconsistent mess when it comes to foreign policy. Frankly I think we make a lot of things worse with our meddling.

America doesn't need an apology from him. I want him to man up and admit his failures. I want him to own up to his rising deficit. His lack of foreign policy. Tell the REAL truth about Project Fast and Furious and to stop blaming President Bush. http://www.examiner.com/article/obam...afu-police-say Tell us the truth about the "Terrorist attack" that happend in Libya on Sep 11th.

Ok, let's take a real look at the rising deficits. I hope you realize that President Obama didn't walk into the oval office and decide to spend 1 trillion dollars more than came in. A giant chunk of the deficit is the direct result of the fact that we were plunged into a massive recession. When Clinton left office we had surplusses; when Bush left office, we were falling down the rabbit hole. You'll have to forgive me for placing a fair portion of the blame on the GOP and the policies enacted during the Bush administration. Ok, so in addition to falling revenue, what comprises the deficit.

I would have loved to have seen both parties get together and fight tooth and nail about what is the best way to proceed, then let there be an open vote on the proposals. What we got was obstruction and disinformation. It's no wonder things havent' gotten better faster.

America doesn't need an apology from him. I want him to man up and admit his failures. I want him to own up to his rising deficit. His lack of foreign policy. Tell the REAL truth about Project Fast and Furious and to stop blaming President Bush. http://www.examiner.com/article/obam...afu-police-say Tell us the truth about the "Terrorist attack" that happend in Libya on Sep 11th.

Why don;t you look at what he's accomplished?

It's a long list of pretty damn good things. One hell of a lot more than our last president.

"One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record."

So basically he just said there that the President has even more empathy and care then he does....then he goes out on a stage and tells everyone he wants to take it all away. Wow, that's some empathy there. I can't understand how he thinks saying two things at once is a winning election strategy.

And Romney does it again. Gave his foreign policy speech full of lies.

For example, Mitt Romney n his speech today

Quote:

"I know the president hopes for a safer, freer, and a more prosperous Middle East allied with the United States. I share this hope. But hope is not a strategy."

And speaking to donors in May,

Quote:

"[S]o what you do is, you say, you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem ... and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it."

Mitt Romney today, " The President hasn't signed a trade agreement on 4 years."

The reality,

Quote:

President Obama on Friday signed the nation’s largest free-trade agreement since NAFTA — and the first of his administration — with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

On June 27, 2007, Guitar Center agreed to $1.9 billion buyout from Bain Capital, totaling $2.1 billion including debt. The deal was led by Goldman Sachs and amounted to a per-share price of $63, or a 26% premium on the June 26 closing price. The deal was approved by shareholders on September 18, 2007, and closed October 9, 2007.

Fender's debt problem consists not only of what it owes but what it is owed. The company is currently owed $11 million by its biggest customer, musical instruments retailer Guitar Center. Fender's fortunes are intrinsically linked to Guitar Center. The retailer accounts for nearly a sixth of Fender's annual sales, and Fender CEO Larry Thomas had previously held the same position at Guitar Center. Thomas was responsible for taking Guitar Center public and then selling it to Bain Capital in 2007. Until the sale, Guitar Center was also partially owned by Weston Presidio.

Guitar Center has been losing money every year since, making it a nightmare investment for Bain Capital. Moody's rated it a lowly Caa2 (defined as "poor standing and subject to very high credit risk") in November 2010. In its report, the ratings firm stated that "the company's capital structure is unsustainable over the medium term at current levels of operating performance, and hence the probability of a default has increased."

The agency affirmed the rating in February this year and as of March, the principal balance on Guitar Center's outstanding long-term debt was $1.57 billion.

I found out that there's a Sam Ash not to far from the one I always went to (it's way in the back of a strip mall and the front looks small, but the store goes way way back so it's huge compared to GC) and it's got a ton more selection.

I have a question, we all know some politicians lye. Shouldn't a Presidential candidate who lies his ass off be disqualified for the position? My god, if this is our standard, with a wink and a nod, the country is lost.

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The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"

Tonight on Rachel Maddow, very interesting observations about Romney's debate statements about how he was different than Bush:
1. Energy Independent.
2. Free Trade Agreements with Latin America
3. Balance the budget.

Then she show clips of Bush saying the exact same things, then she said that most of Romney's foreign advisers were from the Bush Administration, implying that if you were unhappy with the Bush years, this could be Bush III.

She also observed that Obama said he was way more extreme- turning medicare into voucher system (Bush wanted to privatize Social Security); turning the clock back on women's health issues, and Romney was against Fair Pay for women, but then today his campaign said he had no opinion. Romney he said he was against bosses blocking access to women's contraception (Is this the freak'n dark ages?), until his campaign reminded him that he was for that. Alarming...

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The modern business ethos: "I'm worth it, you're not, and I'm a glutton!"